All is well at Hunky Dory

Updated 3:49 pm, Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Chef Richard Knight, from left, Down House owner Chris Cusack and Down House chef Benjy Mason have big plans for Hunky Dory.

Chef Richard Knight, from left, Down House owner Chris Cusack and Down House chef Benjy Mason have big plans for Hunky Dory.

Photo: Alison Cook

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This architect's rendering shows what Hunky Dory is expected to look like.

This architect's rendering shows what Hunky Dory is expected to look like.

Photo: Michael Hsu

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Architect's renderings of a new restaurant coming to Houston called Hunky Dory.

Architect's renderings of a new restaurant coming to Houston called Hunky Dory.

Photo: Michael Hsu

All is well at Hunky Dory

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As of late last week, Down House operator Chris Cusack had nailed down a site and a chipper name - Hunky Dory - for the much-anticipated restaurant he will open next fall with Richard Knight, co-chef of the late great Feast, along with current Down House chef Benjy Mason.

The 200-seat Hunky Dory will be located at 1819 N. Shepherd, occupying most of a block bound by West 18th and 19th streets and Durham in the Heights.

For the first time, do-it-yourself contractor Cusack will be working with an architect: Michael Hsu of Austin, who is noted for his designs for Uchi and Sushi Raku in Houston as well as Uchiko, Sway and La Condesa in Austin. The plans for what Cusack is billing as a neighborhood tavern and whiskey bar include a substantial outdoor component, with 86 picnic-style courtyard seats around an 85-year-old oak tree, 88 in an indoor dining room and another 44 in the bar area.

The look will be clean and contemporary, with glass-window walls under wood-trimmed gables that give a nod to the Victorian architecture that persists in the Heights. From the dining room a huge steel-framed window will lift out and up to the outdoors, bisecting a long table that's half outside and half in.

Knight can barely contain his excitement about the restaurant's focal point: "a very big, sexy wood-burning grill." He's talking about installing a crank system with spits to cook some of the brawny meat dishes for which he was celebrated at Feast. He and Mason, who cooked with him at Feast for a spell, have been brainstorming on menu ideas that convey the nonfancy hangout feel for which they're all aiming. They're talking wood-baked oysters with Manchego cheese and ham, grilled mussels with curry butter, a tongue-and-mustard sandwich.

Some of the British touches and archival dishes Feast was noted for are in the mix, too, like a mock turtle soup or a pork hock and parsley terrine with piccalilli. And down at the end of their menu draft lurks something called a "man steak": either beef for four people, pork for two or lamb for one, all served with fries, mashed potatoes, board juices and fresh greens.

It's a coup for the Heights, which as little as four years ago was considered by its residents to be woefully underserved by the restaurant industry. Now operators such as Cusack, whose Down House and newer D&T Drive Inn quickly became Heights staples, are expanding to fill the area's niches. White Oak Boulevard has become a restaurant axis, and important new spots such as Hubcap Grill and Gatlin's Barbecue have spilled over into adjoining subdivisions. Pioneers including Zelko Bistro and Shade are being joined at a rapid clip by such promising newcomers as Boomtown Coffee, Good Dog Hot Dog and Revival Market's upcoming Italian restaurant, Coltivare.

Cusack has purchased some property across the street from the Hunky Dory site for added parking. (There will be a choice between self-parking and valet.) It will also house a new office for the Treadsack development company that he runs with business partner Joe Treadway. The trio - all of whom live within three blocks of each other in the Heights - if the construction Gods are willing. "Hopefully by this time next year, we'll be drinking a beer under that oak tree," says Cusack.

So where did the vintage slang name Hunky Dory come from? Mason says the inspiration was the David Bowie album of the same name, which he claims was the only CD "that didn't skip" during the time he worked in the kitchen with Knight at Feast. It became one of his favorites, and Bowie's persona as a recording artist who was critically acclaimed but accessible enough to be a commercial success spoke to all three of the men when they were kicking around names for their project.

To Knight, Hunky Dory sent a message that "we weren't going to take ourselves too seriously, that we weren't going to be a fancy restaurant, just a cool, relaxed place to hang out."